Michael Braun is dead wrong in his policy suggestions. But that’s to be expected; he has based his career on drug enforcement and on drumming up support for the futile war against the international drug trade.
The take-home lessons:
- Braun is correct in pointing out that the terrorist organizations that last the longest are those that generate their own funding via contraband, typically drugs.
- Every possible counter-narcotics program has been tried and none of them have ever worked. Braun has some ideas about new methods, but they won’t work in Muslim countries because the mindset of the local population and the presence of jihadis will not allow it.
- The American public is unwilling to pay in blood and treasure for permanent occupation of drug-growing areas.
- The jihad is a far greater danger to civilized life than any drugs could possibly be. I maintain that decriminalizing these drugs would be an effective way of depriving the Taliban, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood and other jihadi organizations, of a large portion of their funding.
Michael Braun: Reemergence of Afghanistan as a Narco-State
Published on Apr 18, 2014 by securefreedom
Recorded at Center for Security Policy’s National Security Group Lunch on Capitol Hill on Friday, 28 March, 2014Michael Braun, Former Chief of Operations, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Former Chief of Staff, Interim Ministry of the Interior, Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq
Topic: The Reemergence of Afghanistan as a Narco-State
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